Economics and similar, for the sleep-deprived

A subtle change has been made to the comments links, so they no longer pop up. Does this in any way help with the problem about comments not appearing on permalinked posts, readers?

Update: seemingly not

Update: Oh yeah!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Never underestimate the importance of careerism

Matthew Yglesias repeatedly and correctly banging his head against the general tendency of the USA to get played in its dealings with Pakistan, among other savvy client states:

"After all, United States pressure played an important role in easing the military out of power recently. But the American security establishment seems to have hit upon the slightly bizarre notion that the appropriate response to the Pakistan military’s unwillingness or inability to effectively provide security for the country is that we should welcome them taking over all government responsibilities. Call me skeptical.

Whatever you think of that, recall that our relationship with Pakistan is shot through with paradoxes. Rising Islamic radicalism helped convince Americans that we should keep Pervez Musharraf in power. The more the territory the Taliban seizes, the more money we give to the Pakistan government. And the background context is that there are many more Pakistani elites who speak English than there are American elites who speak Urdu or Punjabi; and many more Pakistani elites who have western educations than there are American elites who went to school in Pakistan. The United States is rich and strong, Pakistan is poor and weak. But Pakistani officials have a much greater ability to manipulate American officials than vice versa."

or to put it succinctly, as is my tendency:

Shorter Matthew Yglesias: The Pakistan desk in the US State Department is something of a career graveyard for people who aren't really headed for the top. On the other hand, in the Pakistani government, the Pakistan desk is one of the most important postings there is.8 comments this item posted by the management 5/06/2009 01:41:00 PM